Trump meeting with Congress gets mixed reviews from SC delegation

House Republicans reveal what happened during Trump meeting

Presumptive Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump met with House Republicans at Capitol Hill Club in Washington, D.C. Lawmakers came out after the meeting and told reporters that they talked about Supreme Court nominees, immigration, secu

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Presumptive Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump met with House Republicans at Capitol Hill Club in Washington, D.C. Lawmakers came out after the meeting and told reporters that they talked about Supreme Court nominees, immigration, secu

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WASHINGTON

A meeting with Donald Trump on Thursday did little to change the minds of most of South Carolina’s Republican lawmakers in Washington, who continue to waver over how warmly to embrace their party’s presumptive presidential nominee.

“It was interesting; I didn’t hear anything I hadn’t heard before. Glad I came, and there were some interesting questions from my colleagues,” Rep. Jeff Duncan, R-S.C., said as he exited the closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill where Trump received about 200 Republicans from the House of Representatives.

Rep. Mark Sanford, R-S.C., who has expressed reservations about Trump in the past, said his concerns “are probably still there” after the meeting.

“I like much of what he says, but I’m very concerned about the way he says it,” Sanford explained. “I think the room was generally receptive, and there are folks that still have some questions. I remain one of them based on tone and tenor.”

Sanford summarized the meeting, saying Trump had spoken “for about 20 minutes” and then taken what Sanford described as “fairly gentle questions, nothing particularly probing.”

No one asked about recent controversies or pressed Trump for his choice for vice president. Trump acknowledged that House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., had called him the morning after he’d made controversial remarks earlier this week seemingly praising the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein for being tough on terrorists.

Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., described Trump’s separate meeting with Republican senators as “cordial” and “meaty” on policy and said he thought it had been effective in swaying some senators to be less skeptical of Trump’s candidacy.

“From my perspective, I think we’ve been making progress in the right direction,” Scott said as he walked back to his Senate office from the meeting at the National Republican Senatorial Committee offices a few blocks from the Capitol. “I think you’re seeing the process of unification start.”

Scott said the reality of Trump’s candidacy was simple.

“People are frustrated, their incomes are down, some are becoming disillusioned and they’re looking for someone to rally around. Donald Trump has done a very good job . . . of being the force that people coalesce around,” he said, adding that while Trump can be controversial and “at times prickly,” many Americans think he’s better than the alternative.

At some point the nominee needs to get to know the Republican conference, because if in fact he wins, this is the team that will make his agenda happen.

Rep. Mark Sanford, R-S.C.

“He connects with the average person because people don’t want politically correct language leading the way,” he said. “They want someone who has real solutions, and it appears to me that lots of folks believe that, as opposed to Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump has more solutions.”

South Carolina’s other senator, Republican Lindsey Graham, has said he will not be voting for Trump, and he did not attend Thursday’s meeting. Neither did Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C.

EDITORS: STORY CAN END HERE

Rep. Tom Rice, R-S.C., said the bombastic businessman – who even by his own standards has had a controversy-filled week, between doubling down on a tweet that was widely denounced as anti-Semitic and the comments about Saddam – had tried to allay lawmakers’ fears “with some success.”

“They were asking about the Supreme Court. They were asking about his positions on immigration. They were asking about his position on the economy,” Rice said, listing his colleagues’ questions. Rice said Trump’s answers did not differ from what he’d said during the primaries.

“I think that’s what people love about him, that what you see is what you get,” Rice said. “He’s our nominee, and I’m supporting him.”

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